As is known, on a factory floor of a food packaging plant, several specifically-aimed processes are generally performed, including incoming food and packaging material storage, food processing, food packaging, and package warehousing.
In particular, food packaging is performed in Packaging Lines, each of which is an assembly of machines and equipments for the production and handling of packages, and includes a Filling Machine for the production of the packages, followed by one or more defined configuration(s) of downstream Distribution Equipments, such as accumulators, straw applicators, film wrappers, and cardboard packers, connected to the Filling Machine via Conveyors for the handling of the packages.
A typical example of this type of packages is the parallelepiped-shaped package for liquid or pourable food products known as Tetra Brik Aseptic®, which is made by folding and sealing a laminated web of packaging material.
The packaging material has a multilayer sheet structure substantially comprising one or more stiffening and strengthening base layers typically made of a fibrous material, e.g. paper, or mineral-filled polypropylene material, covered on both sides with a number of heat-seal plastic material layers, e.g. polyethylene film. In the case of aseptic packages for long-storage products, such as UHT milk, the packaging material also comprises a gas- and light-barrier material layer, e.g. aluminium foil or ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH) film, which is superimposed on a heat-seal plastic material layer, and is in turn covered with another heat-seal plastic material layer forming the inner face of the package eventually contacting the food product.
Packages of this sort are produced on fully automatic Filling Machines, wherein a continuous vertical tube is formed from the web-fed packaging material; which is sterilized by applying a chemical sterilizing agent such as a hydrogen peroxide solution, which, once sterilization is completed, is removed, e.g. evaporated by heating, from the surfaces of the packaging material; and the sterilized web is maintained in a closed, sterile environment, and is folded and sealed longitudinally to form the vertical tube. The tube is then filled downwards with the sterilized or sterile-processed pourable food product, and is fed along a vertical path to a forming station, where it is gripped along equally spaced cross sections by two pairs of jaws, which act cyclically and successively on the tube, and seal the packaging material of tube to form a continuous strip of pillow packs connected to one another by transverse sealing strips. Pillow packs are separated from one another by cutting the relative sealing strips, and are conveyed to a final folding station where they are folded mechanically into the finished, e.g. substantially parallelepiped-shaped, packages.
Alternatively, the packaging material may be cut into blanks, which are formed into packages on forming spindles, and the packages are filled with food product and sealed. One example of this type of package is the so-called “gable-top” package known as Tetra Rex®.
Applicant's PCT applications WO 2009/083594, WO 2009/083595, WO 2009/083597, and WO 2009/083598, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose a new-generation Packaging System which includes:                one or more Packaging Line(s) automatically configurable to produce Packaged Consumer Products; each Packaging Line comprising a Filling Machine or Equipment, and one or more downstream Distribution Equipment(s) connected via Conveyors; each Filling Machine being operable to selectively produce one or different type(s) of sealed packages; each sealed package containing one or different food product(s) introduced therein by pouring, and being made of a multilayer sheet (laminated) packaging material including at least one stiffening and strengthening base layer and one or more heat-seal plastic layer(s); each Distribution Equipment being operable to carry out a corresponding packaging operation on incoming individual or groups of sealed packages; each Filling Machine and each Distribution Equipment including a respective electronic control unit designed to store and execute one or more software module(s);        one or more Line Controller(s) each programmed to manage configuration, communication and control of one or more respective Packaging Line(s), and including a respective electronic control unit designed to store and execute software applications configured to cooperate with the software modules in the Filling and the Distribution Equipments in the respective Packaging Line(s); and        a Communication Network designed to connect each Line Controller to the Filling and the Distribution Equipments in the respective Packaging Line(s).        
The Packaging System may be:                of the Single-Line type, namely including only one Packaging Line;        of the Multi-Line type, namely including a plurality of operatively stand-alone Packaging Lines, i.e., Packaging Lines which do not share any Distribution Equipment, each provided with an associated Line Controller; or        of the Multi-Switch type, namely with a plurality of operatively cooperating Packaging Lines, i.e., Packaging Lines arranged to share one or more Distribution Equipment(s), so increasing the flexibility and the production variability for the customer.        
In a Multi-Switch Packaging System, either a single-tier or a two-tier control architecture may be provided. In a single-tier control architecture, only a single, common Line Controller is provided, which is programmed to manage configuration, communication and control of all the Packaging Lines with the aim of optimizing the interaction between the Filling Machines and the Distribution Equipments to improve the Multi-Switch Packaging System performance and product transportation during production, while in a two-tier control architecture, both a slave Line Controller for each Packaging Line and a master Line Controller for the slave Line Controllers are provided.
FIG. 1 shows, by way of example, a schematic layout of an integrated Packaging System of the type disclosed in the aforesaid PCT applications, specifically, for the sake of drawing simplicity, of the Single-Line type.
In particular, the Packaging System shown in FIG. 1 includes:                a single Packaging Line comprising a Filling Machine or Equipment followed by downstream Distribution Equipments, such as Accumulators, Straw Applicators, Cap Applicators, Handle Applicators, Cardboard Packers, Film Wrappers, Configuration Switches, Dynamic Switches, and Pallet Systems, which are cascade connected to each other and to the Filling Machine via Conveyors, the Filling and the Distribution Equipments being all known per se and hence not described herein in detail;        a Line Controller designed to manage configuration, communication and control of the Packaging Line with the aim of optimizing the interaction between the Filling Machine and the Distribution Equipments to improve the Packaging Line performance and product transportation during production; and        a Communication Network designed to connect the Line Controller to the Filling and the Distribution Equipments.        
As previously described, the Filling Machines, the Distribution Equipments and the Line Controllers in the Packaging Systems of the type disclosed in the aforesaid PCT applications are each provided with a respective electronic control unit which:                is configured to control operation thereof by executing functions automatically and in response to user's selections; and        is provided with a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) including                    a display unit, such as a touch screen, and            a display control unit programmed to cause a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to be displayed on the display unit.                        
In general, a GUI displayed by an HMI of an electronic control unit currently used in the Packaging Systems exposes user-selectable functions which can be executed by the electronic control unit. A selection, such as a touch selection, of a user-selectable function causes said user-selectable function to be executed by the electronic control unit.
In particular, the GUI exposes all the user-selectable functions which are executable by the electronic control unit thus resulting in a visual information overload for users interacting with the HMI, which visual information overload could even lead a user to make a selection error.